Renovating a house, a garden and other things

Like shopping with a blindfold

Well now we’ve seen two architects to see if they can, and will, take on our wreck of a house project. Both of them were very nice, and both equally keen to keep their ideas close to their chests – I assume until they’ve wrestled a signed contract out of our nervous hands. Which is a very strange way of doing business. Effectively they’re asking us to agree a big bill without demonstrating what they might do for it return. What they are very clear on in their letters, terms of business and quotations, however, is what’s not included in the price and what they won’t do for us.

It’s like shopping blindfolded and unable to return any purchases. Already I’m feeling a little sceptical, and two weeks after completing on the property we’re no further forward.

Even Gabriel the dog is looking a little depressed at the parlous state of the house.

Web hits: we made 950 yesterday, 50 short of our 1000 goal for the first day of March. But the redesign of the homepage got under way today and we’re all feeling really optimistic that it’s going to help boost bookings.

Days until baby arrives: no idea. My best friend, Sophia, is 4 days overdue and I’m so thoroughly preoccupied with checking my phone every 5 minutes to see if she’s gone into labour that I can’t even think about my own due date.

Today’s observation: I don’t want to sound chippy or bra-burning, but some of the outmoded views men hold about women, babies and work are creeping (unwelcome) into my life. Sitting in a meeting today with the director of our design agency, he asked who was going to lead the team while I’m away. ‘Oh I’ll be back pretty quickly, I want to make this new business work as anyone’ I said, keen to get back to the meeting agenda, and added, ‘And I need to work for financial reasons’. He smiled and just said ‘Well that’s what my wife said. You’ll love your baby too much’. I can see this is not going to be easy. Thank heavens for my work colleague who knows me far better and said, ‘Oh no, she loves this business too much, she’ll be back.’ I don’t mind sounding like The Terminator at all on this occasion.